How World-class Schools Deliver for All Students

A world-class school has staff who are committed to the school’s mission and continually work together to improve.

A rigorous process for hiringThe recruitment process identifies candidates who are not only talented, but also deeply committed to the school’s mission, values and beliefs.

Everyone is learningThrough individual and group trainings embedded into the school day, week and year, teachers and leaders stay at the cutting edge and put powerful practices to work in the classroom.

Frequent and meaningful feedbackStaff are evaluated and given timely feedback about their performance. They receive support to help them constantly improve, with strong teachers staying and growing with the school, and teachers leaving who are neither effective nor improving rapidly.

What to look for:

The school has a rigorous process for recruiting and hiring staff. This may include having candidates participate in multiple rounds of interviewing, doing sample lessons, and roleplaying conversations where they receive critical feedback about their lessons. When asked, the school leader can explain what they’re looking for in each part of the hiring process and this guides their final decision-making when hiring the right people for the team.

School leaders and teacher coaches are in classrooms weekly, if not daily, providing meaningful feedback to teachers to help them improve their practice. Teachers report feeling that the feedback is valuable and is helpful to them as they grow in their practice.

The school schedule includes time specifically set aside for teachers to spend multiple hours each week collaboratively developing lesson plans and providing each other with meaningful feedback to make lessons rigorous and engaging for students.

Teachers constantly improve their practice by implementing new strategies they’ve learned from their colleagues and from school leaders. When asked, teachers and school leaders can give examples of how, in the past week or month, they’ve acted on feedback from others to drive improvement in instruction in the classroom and across the school.

See it in Action

Cornerstone Academy

Schools that serve kids well are those that support teachers well, says Cornerstone’s founder.